


morning will break

by rexcorvidae



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Child Abuse, Female Harry Potter, Fix-It, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, in this house we do not condone leaving a child in an abusive environment for over a decade, its my quarantine and i get to choose the coping mechanism okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:28:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24906874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rexcorvidae/pseuds/rexcorvidae
Summary: It wasn’t terribly unusual for No. 4, Privet Drive, to receive visitors during breakfast. It wasn’t common, but occasionally Mrs. Next Door would come across a particularly juicy piece of gossip that simply couldn’t be trusted to the telephone, or the post-man would arrive with a package that needed signing for.But the three people that were standing on the porch when Harriet was sent to answer the door wereveryodd indeed.-a very eventful morning at no. 4, privet drive leads to a radical change for harriet potter.
Relationships: Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Harry Potter
Comments: 21
Kudos: 465
Collections: I'd cry over you





	morning will break

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't set in any specific au of mine, but: female harry au! Sirius was found innocent after a few years, by which time Dumbledore had already placed Harriet with the Dursley's. after several years of arguing, cajoling, bargaining, etc, sirius and remus finally gets permission to visit their god-daughter

It wasn’t terribly unusual for No. 4, Privet Drive, to receive visitors during breakfast. It wasn’t _common_ , but occasionally Mrs. Next Door would come across a particularly juicy piece of gossip that simply couldn’t be trusted to the telephone, or the post-man would arrive with a package that needed signing for.

But the three people that were standing on the porch when Harriet was sent to answer the door were _very_ odd indeed.

The tallest of them, a man about Aunt Petunia’s age with sandy hair, might have fit right in on Privet drive with his smart trousers and neat sweater – were it not for the scars on his face. Rather familiar with unfortunate facial scars herself, Harriet made an effort not to stare, though the man did not seem inclined to give her the same courtesy.

Though, to be fair, he didn’t seem to be staring at her scar so much as at… _her_. He had an odd expression on his face, somewhere between bewildered and sad, and was staring at her like she might disappear if he looked away.

The other man wasn’t much better. He seemed to be the same age, but had long black hair that was tied up in a bun, and wore a leather jacket and a t-shirt advertising a band Harriet had never heard of on the front. He looked, well, _cool_ \- Uncle Vernon would most certainly disapprove.

But he was giving Harri an odd look too – disbelieving, like he wasn't quite sure she was there. With a jolt, Harri realized there were tears in his eyes.

“ _Hazza_.” He said, giving her a weak sort of smile.

There was something about the two of them that was almost- familiar. Not quite – not from any memory she could place – but in the fuzzy, far-away place in her mind that held flying motorbikes and flashes of green light.

“Ahem.”

The third of their trio, a woman considerably older than the two beside her, cleared her throat imperiously. She was wearing a funny sort of dress, with long sleeves despite the July heat, that went all the way to the ground. She was looking at Harriet too, but it felt more appraising – her eyes scanned over Harriet quickly and coolly, pausing only briefly at her scar, and then, a bit longer, at the fresh bruise on her cheek. Her lips were pursed like she wasn’t pleased with what she found.

Harriet flushed, shame and resentment surging briefly in her gut before she pushed it down.

“Hi,” She said awkwardly, waiting for one of them to speak up. “Er- did you need something, or-?”

Honestly, she wasn’t quite sure what to say – visitors from Privet Drive rarely let her say so much as _hello_ before coolly telling her what they were here for - as if any unnecessary conversation would cause her freakishness to rub off on them. 

“Yes,” The woman responded, taking a moment to clear her throat pointedly at the other two, who still seemed a bit dazed, “Could you get your aunt and uncle for us, please?”

Unwittingly, Harriet found herself staring back at the two men who were still looking at her with disbelief. She could almost place them, could just barely feel names forming at the very edge of her memory, too far to reach, but-

“Uh, sure.” She replied, blinking herself to awareness. “Uncle Vernon?” She called back into the house, not quite willing to leave the front door lest they disappear, “Aunt Petunia? It’s for you.”

The taller of the two men finally seemed to have gathered his wits enough to speak. “Harri,” He said hoarsely, “Merlin, I- It’s so good to see you-“

“Blasted girl!” Bellowed a voice from the hall. Harriet ducked instinctively, only just avoiding the back of Vernon’s hand. “What the hell is wrong with you, barking orders at us from across the house? Do you think-“

“ _You_.”

Her aunt’s voice, soft and hoarse, cut her uncle’s tirade off midstream. She stared out at the trio on their front porch with pure revulsion, which Harriet didn’t think was particularly fair, as they hadn’t even _said_ anything yet.

“Miss Evans.”

And then all other thoughts flew from Harri’s mind, because that other woman had called Aunt Petunia Evans, and if she had known Aunt Petunia before she was married, then maybe she had known-

“Tuney.” That was the darker haired man – the one who had called her Hazza earlier – and in spite of herself, Harri felt a hysterical giggle bubble up at his sneer. 

Vernon shot her a look that sent Harri scrambling back to get out of his grasp, but he seemed to remember the people on his porch and restrained himself.

“We’d like a word with Harriet, and then, if you don’t mind, we’d like to take her out to get her some supplies.”

“Supplies?” Vernon parroted, voicing Harriet’s own question, “For what?”

The woman spoke again, sounding thoroughly unimpressed. “School, of course, Mr. Dursley.”

Now, Harriet was just lost. They wanted to take her out for notebooks and pens? And why had they known her name?

“No.” Her aunt said, softly but firmly, “No, absolutely not.”

“I know she doesn’t start until next year,” the sandy-haired man started, “but we just thought it would be good for her to get a bit of a head start, given the circumstances-" Circumstances? "-If you’d like to come with us, you-“ Petunia cut him off.

“ _No!_ She’s not going to your _freakish_ stores to get anything for your _freakish_ school. Now get off of my porch before I call the police.”

The door slammed closed.

There were many rules that came with living with the Dursleys, but the most important one, Harriet had learned early on, was _don’t ask questions._

She _knew_ that. She did. But-

“Who was that? Were they talking about me? Why did they want to take me for school supplies? Did you know-“

The doorbell rang again. 

Before Harriet could blink, there was a sharp pain in her arm, her head was ringing from being slammed against the wall, and there was a meaty hand around her throat, cutting off her air.

“Listen to me _very closely_ , girl,” Her uncle hissed, fist growing impossibly tighter around her throat as he spoke, “You are going to stay in your cupboard and _not_. _Make_. _A sound_. Or I will make you wish you had never been born. Do you understand?”

Harriet nodded frantically – black spots were obscuring her vision, and her limbs felt like they were filled with cotton. Before she could process it, she was moving, and then the hand at her throat was gone and she was being thrown into her cupboard. Her already sore head impacted painfully with one of the pipes along the back wall, but her groan came out breathy and quiet as she struggled to catch her breath, only distantly aware of the cupboard door slamming shut.

From her cupboard, she heard the front door open again. “If you don’t get off my property right now I’ll call the police, I swear I will.”

“Mr. Dursley, I think we both know that won’t be very effective.” Harriet’s eyes widened. It wouldn’t? “Now, if you’d just let us step inside for a few moments – or, of course, we could send the headmaster. You remember him, don’t you Petunia? I’m sure his presence would get your attention… and that of your neighbors.”

There was a fraught beat of silence before Aunt Petunia finally sighed. “Fine, just get in, and wipe your feet, they’re filthy.”

Careful not to make too much noise, Harriet shifted and pressed one ear to the door of her cupboard to hear better.

“She’s not going,” her aunt hissed, “She’s not like you lot, so don’t even bother.”

“Quite right,” Her uncle puffed, “When we took her in we swore we would put a stop to that freakishness.”

“Well, be that as it may, Mr. Dursley, Harriet’s name is on the list. She has to go to-“

“ _No_!” Petunia snapped, “No, I won’t have one in the house. She has taken our time, our money, taken food from the mouth of my son-” Harriet stifled a snort at that- “But I am _drawing a line_. She will not go off to turn into a _freak_ like-“

“Petunia!” This was the dark-haired man, sounding both annoyed and bewildered, “For god’s sake, Lily-“

“My _sister_ -“

Harriet’s breath hitched. Aunt Petunia only had one sister.

She had asked about her parents before, of course. Asked about her mother. But it seemed like she always found the worst time to ask because every time her aunt would snap at her to _shut up_ and _don’t ask questions_ , and after a while, Harriet simply stopped asking.

But now- now she had a _name_.

_Lily_.

If these people knew her mother’s name, what else did they know? What else could they tell her?

As if he could sense her anticipation, Dudley chose that moment to crash into the front hallway. 

“ _Mum_ ,” He whined, “I want to go- who’re they?”

Not for the first time, Harriet felt the urge to throttle him.

“No one, Diddy-kins,” Her aunt simpered, “Just some salespeople, now why don’t you go upstairs and play on your computer, and when they’re gone we can do whatever you want, hm?”

“What’re they-“

“ _Now_ , Dudley!”

Harriet blinked. She’d never heard her aunt _or_ uncle snap at Dudley like that. 

Dudley seemed to be as shocked as she was because he retreated up the stairs silently, apparently too bewildered to remember to stomp on the steps above her.

The sandy-haired man spoke next, sounding sheepish. “Ah, allow me.”

“Not in the house-!” Her aunt cried before the oddest thing happened.

They were still there – Harriet could just make out their shapes through the vents in her cupboard door – but it was like someone had hit mute. They weren’t just whispering, there was simply no sound escaping. 

Her stomach twisted. Uncle Vernon had said to stay in her cupboard, but… they were talking about her! And if her aunt and uncle got their way, then soon they’d leave and she’d never see them again, so she wanted as much information as she could get before the did.

He’d said she had to stay in her cupboard, she reasoned. He didn’t say anything about keeping the door shut.

(Deep down, she knew this excuse would mean less than nothing to her uncle if he caught her, but it made it a little easier to overcome all of her survival instincts screaming at her to _stop, don’t make things worse_.)

Very carefully, very quietly, she eased open the cupboard door and peered out.

Her aunt and uncle were faced away from her, toward the front door, and over her Uncle’s shoulder she could just make out the trio of strangers. The sandy-haired man was talking, a look of forced calm on his face (not unlike the one Harri had seen her teachers wear when Dudley was having a tantrum), and his lips were moving, but still, Harriet couldn’t make out a thing he was saying.

Frustrated, she cocked her head to the side, scooting out just a bit further, as though those few inches would make a difference.

As it turned out, they did.

She still couldn’t hear a word they were saying – not until a pair of light eyes found hers, scarred face scrunching in confusion.

At the same moment Harri felt her heart freeze, it was like the volume had been turned back on, just in time for her to hear him say “Harriet?”

She threw herself back into her cupboard, forgetting to close the door silently in her panic, and flinched when it slammed shut.

Oh _god_ , Vernon and Petunia would _definitely_ know now, how could she have been so _stupid_? And when Uncle Vernon got a hold of her, he’d- he’d-

It felt like there was a vice around her chest, squeezing the air out of her lungs, and before she had a chance to collect herself the door to her cupboard was opening.

Petrified, she pressed herself into the furthest corner, away from-

Oh.

It was the sandy-haired man again, who crouched down so they were at eye-level and cocked his head at her, frowning. “Harriet? What are you doing in a cupboard? What-“

Something in his face shifted subtly, something Harriet couldn’t quite place, as his gaze moved from her to the rest of her cupboard – to the thin mattress and ratty blanket on the floor, to the small pile of baggy clothes in the corner, to the battered bookbag leaning against the wall. “Harriet, do you- do you sleep here?”

That was a bad question.

She wasn’t supposed to answer that question – she’d learned that lesson very young, and still bore the marks of it today – but he was _standing_ there, he could obviously see it, so wouldn’t it be worse to lie? Still, she caught sight of her uncle’s face outside – nearly purple with fury – and any inclination she had to answer dried up. 

She pursed her lips shut and dropped her gaze, trying hard to focus on breathing.

“Moony, what-?”

The other man came forward, bending down to see what the fuss was, and Harri knew what his expression meant. It twisted, turned cold and hard with fury, and she pressed herself a little flatter against the wall. 

“You kept her,” He began, voice soft and dangerous, “ _IN A BLOODY CUPBOARD?_ ”

There was the sound of flesh hitting the wall, and Aunt Petunia gave a terrified shriek as Uncle Vernon sputtered. “ _Give me a reason,_ Dursley,” The dark-haired man growled, “I’m _begging_ you, give me a reason not to-“

Harri wondered if they’d done something funny with sound again, because the next thing she heard was the woman snapping “-serious, enough! You know full well how Dumbledore feels-“

“Bugger Dumbledore!” He snarled back at her, “No, Minerva, I mean it. I’ve stayed away for _nine years_ because you told me- because _he_ told me she’d be safe! And now-“

Harriet had started to shake. She didn’t know who _Dumbledore_ was, but she knew that the man outside was _angry_ , and he was _close_ , and that combination rarely led to good outcomes for her.

“Pads.” The sandy-haired man didn’t yell or snap. He spoke softly, calmly, but the other man fell silent at once. “Not here.” He turned back to Harriet, still pressed in the farthest corner of her cupboard, who didn’t look up until he slowly reached a hand out her. “Hi,” he said softly, “I know you’re scared, but do you think you could come out for me?”

Honestly, Harriet would have preferred not to. He had a kind enough face, but she knew very well that didn’t mean much on its own. Still, she preferred the soft way he spoke to yelling, and she didn’t want to risk annoying him. Tentatively, she left the safety of her cupboard, slouching instinctively to make herself smaller.

Luckily, he didn’t seem bothered by this, just looked down at her and smiled. “I don’t think I properly introduced myself earlier,” He smiled, “I’m Remus.”

“Harriet.” She croaked back automatically, forgetting he already knew her name.

His eyes widened at the response, and she realized belatedly that her voice was probably rather unpleasant to listen to after Uncle Vernon’s earlier outburst. 

“Your throat…” He reached toward her face, and instinctively she jumped back. His hand dropped to his side immediately, and his face shifted again in the odd way it had when he saw her cupboard. He took a deep, shaky breath, and turned to his companions. “We’re leaving.” He said shortly. “Harriet is coming with us.”

“ _Dumbledore_ -“ The woman interrupted.

Before she could continue, he stepped close to her and whispered something in her ear. Her gaze darted to Harriet’s neck, eyes widening, before pursing her lips into a thin line and nodding. 

Turning back to Harriet, the man gave her a strained smile. “Now, is there anything you’d like to take with you? We likely won’t be coming back.”

She glanced warily over towards her aunt and uncle, who sat stiff and furious but made no move to argue, before nodding and darting back to her cupboard.

She’d gotten the book from the library’s giveaway bin. It was old and tattered, nearly falling apart, but she’d seen the box full of books just sitting on the curb, and had never wanted so badly in her life. She hadn’t even _meant_ to grab this particular book, had just been trying to grab one before Dudley saw her, but when she got home to examine her prize she felt a thrill go through her. _The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe._

If they’d ever found out, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia would have been furious, but… but it was _hers_. Moving her mattress aside, she pried up the loose floorboard underneath and retrieved her precious book. After a moment’s thought, she also took the handful of small, smooth stones that sat next to it. They weren’t anything special on their own, but they’d been the first things she’d been able to float on purpose, and the only things she could reliably make float every time she tried. She dropped her treasures into her ratty backpack, before grabbing her clothes and throwing them on top.

She emerged with one strap over her shoulder.

“Is that all?” Moony asked her gently. She nodded. His face did that funny thing again before he gave her another rather strained smile. “Alright then,” He said briskly, nodding to his companions, “Shall we?”

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](rexcorvidae.tumblr.com)
> 
> think i'm gonna make a fic to store my various and sundry hp au's, starting with Lesbian Drarry Rights just so i can discuss it w/ people, so keep a look out


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